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Potential of Spitfires as racers

Ok I know they are to rare & expensive and have hardly ever raced, so this is a What if question.

How much potential does the spitfire have as a racer?

It does have the options of either a Merlin or Griffion as standard, as well as 4, 5, or C/R props. Various models had fast top speeds and if it is accurate it is the quickest that a piston aircraft has ever been in a dive above Hong Kong in the early 50's. Or still one of the quickest with the 606mph dive

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

Stefanutti then proceeded to the design of a fighter with full operational equipment including armament. This was the SAI.207 that otherwise differed from the SAI.107 only in its more powerful engine driving a three-bladed propeller. Flight trials began in 1942, and in the course of these, the first SAI.207 recorded a dive speed of 596 mph at 9,845 ft, corresponding to Mach .86.

Production of the SAI.207 had meanwhile been cancelled in favor of its SAI.403 Dardo (dart) derivative. This essentially was a more sophisticated version of the SAI.207 with the same type of stressed-skin wooden construction, but which had fully retractable landing gear rather than the 207's combination of retractable main gear and fixed tailwheel.

The first SAI.403 flew late in 1942 and revealed exceptional performance, including a maximum speed of 404 mph at 23,620 ft.

Edit; We can only guess how much faster Dardo would have been ..Mach 0,88 ?

As such I like things like the Nemsis, Inline motors (radials got nice sound and presence tho). So would like to know how something like a Spitfire would go as a racer. It's about 2500lbs lighter with a Merlin than a P-51D (2000lbs against a H) or about the same weight when it's got the Heavier Griffion.

Also outside of the Motors you could make a New Build Spit (on same website as above). So it's lighter, should have less drag, probably with less frontal area, could be a new build aircraft, good handaling charteristics, G Loading, put whichever inline motor you want in it ( a full size relica flew with a modified car motor) and with a wing that has flown at one of the highest speeds a prop plane has gone.

Then throw in some mods like clean the fuslage up, maybe streamline the intakes or put them in the wing, a bit of lightening and a race motor + prop

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

I agree and I think the light and lean method lacks one aspect...spare Merlins and Griffons.

Spiteful had 494 mph top speed. It had laminar foil..only P-47J was faster...and H model Mustang came close with 487 mph. I am talking about designs for military use ( in certain altitude ) and not enhanced to race.

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

Originally Posted by zeke

If the F-84H didn't shake itself (or the pilot) apart. Had a few problems with vibrations. The airframe could might take it, but I doubt the pilot could.

Aside from prop shaft vibrations, it was never an issue with shaking itself apart. In fact, structurally, the plane was never in any kind of danger. The engine/gearbox setup was Mickey Mouse, in that it was actually two engines run through a common gearbox.

And the pilot was never in any danger of being sick. It was people outside, and within a certain 'danger cone' where the harmonics of the propeller going supersonic effected the brain and the body's central nervous system.

Just my .02. I've always been fascinated by that plane and have done a lot of research on it. Thunderscreech, indeed!

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

Originally Posted by speeddemon

And the pilot was never in any danger of being sick. It was people outside, and within a certain 'danger cone' where the harmonics of the propeller going supersonic effected the brain and the body's central nervous system.

Just my .02. I've always been fascinated by that plane and have done a lot of research on it.

The propellor noise even in a small model can be irritating; 7000 hp doing supersonic noise must really be devastating.

Speeddemon...what and how thick wingfoil did F-84H have...do you know it ?

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

I think the problem with the Thuderscreech (and what speeddemon is saying) wasn't one of being too loud. Shock waves off the prop had severe physiological effects on the human body. No amount of hearing protection would help.

Re: Potential of Spitfires as racers

Originally Posted by speeddemon

Aside from prop shaft vibrations, it was never an issue with shaking itself apart. In fact, structurally, the plane was never in any kind of danger. The engine/gearbox setup was Mickey Mouse, in that it was actually two engines run through a common gearbox.

And the pilot was never in any danger of being sick. It was people outside, and within a certain 'danger cone' where the harmonics of the propeller going supersonic effected the brain and the body's central nervous system.

Just my .02. I've always been fascinated by that plane and have done a lot of research on it. Thunderscreech, indeed!

So it couldn't be a stealth aircraft, just listen out for where it is.

I read how one pilot who flew it never would again, and that 10 of 11 flights ended in due to some sort of problem. So was referring to that, thought it was to do with the setup/props/harmonics but never have looked into it that much. Was the problems due to other causes?

One thing I would like to know about the aircraft, it is often called the fastest propeller driven aircraft, with a high design speed. And I have also heard that it never actually flew near those speeds. Do you know it's highest speed that it attained in flight?

Juke, you mentioned the problem finding Merlins/Griffions, how hard are they to get. Everyone talks of the problems, but there are a lot of warbirds out there that use them and I don't know of any planes sitting in hangers cause there is no motors to be found. Anyone know the situation, how good or bad is it? What about with the Radials?